Leading national recycling and waste management provider, Biffa has revealed that almost half of SMEs in the UK are wasting over 10 days a year removing emergency waste items from their premises.

With each unscheduled incident taking up to seven working hours on average to handle for 44.5 per cent of businesses, UK SMEs are missing out on vital working time and inhibiting economic growth and productivity.

The results mean that, for a business dealing with emergency waste on an average monthly basis, more than half are likely to lose up to 84 working hours a year – the equivalent of 10.5 working days – dealing with this problem. This time can easily result in business losses of thousands of pounds per annum.

To tackle this issue, Biffa has launched the new 321 Gone service under the OneCall family following customer feedback asking the firm to deal with smaller quantities of unplanned waste quickly and responsibly.

The new service allows small waste items to be collected, separated, and disposed of, with all recyclable items being put to better use – a reassurance to retailers that they are doing their part to positively impact the environment.

Whether it’s broken furniture, unwanted items, or redundant fixtures, there are times when all SMEs are tasked with removing bulky, infrequent waste items and might not have enough waste or space to warrant hiring a skip. This can result in a build of items on premises, reducing productivity and increasing the risk of accidents in the workplace.

Jeff Anderson, managing director of Industrial & Commercial at Biffa, said: “Retailers often have a clear strategy for maintaining daily waste, but one-off items that need to be removed can be more difficult. While skips may be a suitable solution for many types of refurbishment work, it’s the less frequent, bulky items that are too small to warrant the cost of a skip and therefore require a more agile and flexible solution.

“With a range of waste disposal solutions available, many businesses are turning to Biffa’s 321 Gone service to provide a rapid, reliable service in the safe knowledge that unwanted waste will be recycled or disposed of in an auditable and sustainable way.”

Biffa’s new 321 Gone service is available to remove up to three items of bulky, unwanted waste from sites within five working days and costs just £99.